Passion Sunday – Step 7

From: Christopher Stefanick

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Mark 14:1-15:47, we hear the full account of Jesus’ passion and death.

He died for one simple reason: To give you new life. Eternal life. And that eternal life doesn’t just start in heaven. It starts here and now. It makes our life look different. Now. Early Christians simply referred to themselves as “the living ones.”

But only he can bring us to new life.

Our role in receiving the life he died to give us is pretty simple, really. It’s the response of faith: the surrender of ourselves to the One who gave himself up for us.

Join me in this prayer written by St. John Chrysostom over 1,600 years ago:

O my all-merciful God and Lord, Jesus Christ, full of pity:
Through Your great love You came down
and became incarnate in order to save everyone.
O Savior, I ask You to save me by Your grace!
If You save anyone because of their works,
that would not be grace but only reward of duty,
but You are compassionate and full of mercy!
You said, O my Christ,
Whoever believes in Me shall live and never die.
If then, faith in You saves the lost, then save me,
O my God and Creator, for I believe.
Let faith and not my unworthy works be counted to me, O my God,
for You will find no works which could account me righteous.
O Lord, from now on let me love You as intensely as I have loved sin,
and work for You as hard as I once worked for the evil one.
I promise that I will work to do Your will,
my Lord and God, Jesus Christ, all the days of my life and forever more.

Lent. It’s what Jesus does.
Let’s do it with him.